THE COLOR LINE - RACIAL NORMS AND DISCRIMINATION IN URBAN LABOR-MARKETS, 1910-1950

In both northern and southern cities of the United States, African-Ame ricans faced a web of social constraints on such activities as housing , shopping, and everyday interpersonal interactions. Those constraints had implications for the labor market as well. In particular, norms a gainst white subservience to blacks played an important role in determ ining the social composition of occupations. Close attention to the op eration of such social norms can add much explanatory power to convent ional economic analyses of discrimination based on human capital and t aste for discrimination.